Little Girl Lost
by MaverickLover2
Summary: When Bart's youngest child disappears, everyone begins the search.


Little Girl Lost

Lily Beth was about three years old when we lost her. She'd gone with Lily Mae up to James Buckley's house to see the ponies and goats with her brother Breton, who normally held her hand everywhere they went. For some reason he didn't on this particular day.

Maybe I better explain who all these people are. At this point in time, Lily Beth was my youngest child. Her brother Breton was two years older than her . . . he was five. I have four other children, three older, one younger than Breton. When Lily Beth started walking she held on to Breton, and it's been that way ever since. Lily Mae Connors is our housekeeper, cook, babysitter, and a cherished part of the family. She took care of my uncle's family until they all moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then she came to stay with us. I'm Bart Maverick, horse rancher and retired gambler. My wife is Doralice, mother of six and as you can imagine, a very busy lady. That's one reason why Lily Mae is so important to us.

Anyway, Lily Mae had taken Lily Beth and Breton to Buckley's house to see all the animals. Lily Beth seemed fascinated by the baby goats, who jumped all over the place, and then transferred her fascination to the rabbits, who also hopped and jumped. Far as we can figure, that's when she wandered off, following a wild rabbit to who knows where. Lily Mae and James looked for her for over an hour, calling out her name and searching the woods behind the house. She was nowhere to be found.

That's when Lily Mae came back to the house and got me. Rather, she got me, every ranch hand I could get hold of, her mother and both of her older sisters. We all came on horseback because that was the quickest way to get there, and it was the most efficient way to search for my baby girl. We looked everywhere, again calling out her name. Nobody could find her.

By this time the sun was beginning to go down. It doesn't get outright cold at night in Texas, just chilly, but Lily Beth had on a pair of cotton overalls and a tee shirt. Not the kind of clothes that were suited for being out in the damp, chilly night air. We were pretty desperate to find her before nightfall. I couldn't imagine her out here by herself, lost in the woods, and I began to feel the panic rising up inside me. Why had she ever let go of Breton's hand? And why didn't she answer any of us? Was it already too late?

I refused to believe that, and when I ran across her mother I found that she had the same feelings. Surely one of us would know if our child was dead. We sent all the ranch hands home and the four Mavericks kept looking for her until it was too dark to see outside. That's when I sent my two daughters home; they didn't want to leave but it was too dark and dangerous out at this time of night. I tried to send Doralice home with them, but she refused to go.

Dandy Jim had come out to help when he'd gotten home, and we kept lookin'. I got down off my horse and checked old rabbit holes, one time finding a wolf with her three pups trying to stuff themselves into an abandoned hole. I couldn't blame mama wolf for sheltering her babies wherever she could.

I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, but the search went on. I kept walking for a while longer, leading Baron behind me, and once I thought I was close when I found what looked like a piece of her tee shirt hung up on a low-lying branch. That was enough to wake me up.

We searched for another hour with no results. Finally, I ran into Dandy and he suggested we find a clearing and build a fire. If she was . . . well, if she saw it, maybe she'd come towards it. I thought it was a good idea and started gathering wood. In just a few minutes we had a decent fire going, and we kept feeding it for a couple hours, but there was no response. I was beginning to lose all hope.

As daylight finally broke across the horizon, I tried calling her name again. No matter what I did, all that came out was a croak. I'd called out to her and yelled her name for so long that I no longer had a voice. Dandy was still with me and he took charge.

"Come on, old man, this won't do any good. Let's get you back to the house and see if Hannah has something that can help to evict the frog that's taken up residence in your throat."

I followed him, rather like an obedient little boy, back to his house. When we got there he found Hannah busy in the kitchen, with coffee already made. She stopped what she was doing after Dandy explained the problem.

"Come with me, Mr. Maverick, I've just the thing for you," and she pulled me into the study. "Now you sit here and I'll be right back."

Dandy wandered in with a small smirk upon his face. "Whatever she's got for you Bart old man, you won't like the taste of it, I guarantee that. But it will help your throat."

When Hannah returned, she brought the foulest tastin' thing that I ever could have imagined with her. It was even worse than laudanum. All I knew was that Dandy swore by her remedies, and I needed my throat back . . . in a hurry. So I gargled with some of the stuff and swallowed the rest, per her instructions. Like I said, it was awful tasting, but it seemed to do the trick. In just a few minutes my voice began to improve, and my throat felt better than before. Dandy went back out with me, and we took up lookin' where we'd left off.

By now it was full daylight and the Maverick women had returned to the hunt, as well as the majority of the ranch hands. Lucien reminded me that she'd been gone almost twenty-four hours, and it was gettin' close to time to call off the search. I told him I'd not call off the search until we found her, alive or dead.

A little while later I came across Doralice. She was sittin' on the ground at an empty rabbit hole, and as far as I could tell she'd been crying. She looked up at me as I dismounted and tried to smile, but I saw the pain and despair in her eyes. "Hi ya, gamblin' man," was the only thing she said in a hushed and trembling voice.

"Hi ya, blue-eyes," I replied as best I could. "Sorry, lost my voice." I sat down on the ground beside her. "What are you doin' down here?"

"I can't cry on a horse," she whispered. I leaned over and took her in my arms, and she burst into tears again.

"That won't help any. We're gonna find her."

"How can you be so sure?" she mumbled through her tears.

"Because," I replied, "God wouldn't give us such a beautiful child just to take her away."

"God does some pretty mean things sometimes," she told me.

I shook my head. "Not this time."

We sat like that for another five minutes and then I tried to be as cheerful as possible. "Come on, beautiful, time to get back to searching' for our baby. Can you mount by yourself?"

She nodded. "Of course I can."

"You promise not to cry anymore?"

"I'll fall off the horse if I do." The look she gave me left me certain she'd not be doin' any of that. I got back on Baron and watched her ride south, calling out "Lily Beth, this is your momma. Answer me."

I turned north, back towards Dandy's house, and decided to ride on past where he lived and keep goin', just in case she'd taken that route. I was almost back to Jim's when I saw it up ahead . . . it was definitely something dead; there were vultures circling overhead. It looked to be about the size of a child. Our child. "Don't go there, Bart, it's not your daughter. Remember what you just told Doralice." I shook my head; I'd been out here so long that I was talking' to myself. Next I'd start answerin' myself, and then the men from the asylum could come get me.

I kicked Baron into a gallop to get to her as quickly as possible. I'd already made up my mind that it was Lily; I brought Baron to a screeching halt and was on the ground in seconds. I ran to her and had to stop in a hurry when I realized it was indeed dead . . . and it wasn't our daughter. It was a calf. I sat down on a pile of leaves next to the carcass and put my head in my hands. I felt like crying but I was too tired to cry, and before I knew it I was asleep. I don't know how long I slept, but it couldn't have been too long. I woke up curled up in a ball on the leaf pile, with one of Dandy's baby goats licking me in the face.

"What are you doin' out here, little fella? You're in the wrong place." I picked up the goat and mounted Baron, keeping the kid under my right arm. It only took me five minutes to get to Dandy's barn, and I pulled Baron up outside, fully intending to put the kid back in the barn where he belonged. I had to put the kid down on the ground to get the doors open; one of them was stuck. As I entered the barn, I could have sworn I heard Lily Beth singing. It had to be my imagination.

Or was it? I set the kid in his stall and then stopped. I heard it again. Barely discernable, but it sounded just like her. I had to be hearing things, so I stood very still and listened. I swear it was her. "Lily Beth?" I called softly.

Then I heard the most wonderful sound in the whole world. "Daddy?"

"Lily Beth, where are you?"

"With the bunnies."

I went running over to the cage that Jim kept them in and found my daughter sitting just outside it, petting the nose of one of the newborns. I scooped her up off the ground and pressed her tightly against me. "How long have you been here?" I questioned.

"Yesterday afternoon. Awful hungry."

I pulled out a piece of jerky I had in my pocket and gave it to her, and then I did cry with relief. Quietly I asked her, "Why didn't you go to Uncle Jim's house?"

Between bites she told me, "Couldn't get the barn door open."

I had to signal the others, so I sat her back down and told her, "You stay right here now. Daddy has to do something and I'll be right back." I hurried outside, closed the barn door and pulled my Remington out. I fired three quick shots in succession and went back into the barn and picked her up again. "Momma and Uncle Jim will be here soon." I pulled her close again and kissed her little blonde head. "Daddy is awfully glad to see you. I thought you were lost. Momma and Daddy and Uncle Jim and lots of other people have been looking for you."

"You mad, Daddy?" She looked at me with those big blue eyes and I kissed her again. "No, baby. Daddy isn't mad at you. Have you been in the barn the whole time?"

She nodded slowly. "Uh huh."

I heard horses outside, and in just a minute Doralice came running in. "Oh my goodness!" she cried, and I handed her our daughter, who was promptly smothered with kisses."Where did you find her?"

"Right here in the barn with the bunnies. The door was stuck and she couldn't get out." Pretty soon everybody was there, and they were just as joyful to see her as we were. Jim felt terrible that she was stuck overnight in the barn, but I told him I was glad she'd been inside where it was safe and warm.

After everyone had gone, happy for a positive outcome, I sat Miss Lily Beth down and explained that she couldn't go chasing the rabbitts like that anymore. She'd been our little girl lost once, and that was one too many times.

The End


End file.
